Commercial Real Estate & Advisory

Brazil Fashion Firm Picks SoHo Site

By Elisabeth Butler | May 14, 2007

Brazilian fashion house Osklen, known for its minimalist, outdoorsy clothes, has selected SoHo for its first North American store.

Rio de Janeiro-based Osklen has signed a 10-year lease for a 1,600-square-foot store at 97 Wooster St., between Prince and Spring Streets, in a space that formerly housed retailer Laundry by Shelli Segal.

The SoHo shop, slated to open in early June, will be the first of four U.S. stores that Osklen hopes to launch in the next two years.

“They plan to open another store in East Hampton, at least by next summer, and another on the Upper East Side, probably on Madison Avenue,” says Alex Cesar, an Eychner Associates Inc. broker who represented Osklen in the deal.
The company operated stores in Brazil, Italy and Portugal. Designer Oskar Metsavaht, known as an avid outdoorsman, creates the upscale line for both men and women.

“Osklen [executives] liked the idea of opening next to Patagonia and across from Chanel,” says Christopher Owles, a principal at Sinvin Realty, which negotiated for property owner 97 Wooster Street Corp. in the deal. The asking rent was $200 per square foot for the ground floor. The site comes with a 1,000-square foot basement for storage.